People’s Community Market, projected to open in West Oakland in the fall of 2014, is inching closer to full funding. Brahm Ahmadi explains to Sarah Henry why the supermarket has been a long time coming and what local residents can expect.

Food banks are in the business of combating hunger — and they want to nourish their clients too. Find out about a new initiative designed to help places like the Alameda County Community Food Bank better serve people in need of a good feed.

The head of sustainability for the Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich restaurant empire dishes on what her job entails — and offers a rebuttal to critics who sniff at whether sustainability discussions belong in the culinary world.

Formerly homeless and now the voice behind Eating Richly: Even When You’re Broke, Diana Johnson talks about eating healthily on a shoestring, the hidden hungry, and teaching people to cook cheaply and well.

Ripe: A Fresh Colorful Approach to Fruits and Vegetables showcases Cheryl Sternman Rule’s pithy wit and Paulette Phlipot’s vibrant images. But produce — in all its weird and wonderful glory — gets top billing in this cookbook.

Canning queen Merrilee Olson lends her expertise to a new preservation project designed to help Marin farms — and county children fed by the Head Start program — by producing an artisan product from excess produce.

Sarah Henry has the arduous task of reporting from the field following a week’s stay at the much-loved Ranch La Puerta fitness resort and spa, which also features an organic garden and culinary school.

An interview with Whole Foods Parking Lot creator DJDave, also known as David Wittman, who penned a memorable little ditty viewed by millions about what goes down in the Whole Foods parking lot for affluent shoppers picking up organic kale and Kombucha.